Gamma-ray Bursts:Progresses at Purple Mountain Observatory

A gamma-ray burst （GRB） is an extremely luminous flash of gamma rays that occurs as the result of an explosion, and is thought to be associated with the formation of a black hole. Most GRBs are billions of light years away from Earth, implying that the explosions are both extremely energetic （a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime） and extremely rare （a few per galaxy per million years）. Researches on GRBs have attracted wide attention. For experts on accretion disks,

Two methods for separating the magnetospheric solar wind charge exchange soft X-ray emission from the diffuse X-ray background

Solar wind charge exchange(SWCX)is the process of solar wind high-valence ions exchanging charges with neutral components and generating soft X-rays.Recently,detecting the SWCX emission from the magnetosphere is proposed as a new technique to study the magnetosphere using panoramic soft X-ray imaging.To better prepare for the data analysis of upcoming magnetospheric soft X-ray imaging missions,this paper compares the magnetospheric SWCX emission obtained by two methods in an XMM-Newton observation,during which the solar wind changed dramatically.The two methods differ in the data used to fit the diffuse X-ray background(DXB)parameters in spectral analysis.The method adding data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey(RASS)is called the RASS method.The method using the quiet observation data is called the Quiet method,where quiet observations usually refer to observations made by the same satellite with the same target but under weaker solar wind conditions.Results show that the spectral compositions of magnetospheric SWCX emission obtained by the two methods are very similar,and the changes in intensity over time are highly consistent,although the intensity obtained by the RASS method is about 2.68±0.56 keV cm^(-2)s^(-1)sr^(-1)higher than that obtained by the Quiet method.Since the DXB intensity obtained by the RASS method is about 2.84±0.74 keV cm^(-2)s^(-1)sr^(-1)lower than that obtained by the Quiet method,and the linear correlation coefficient between the difference of SWCX and DXB obtained by the two methods in diffe rent energy band is close to-1,the diffe rences in magnetospheric SWCX can be fully attributed to the diffe rences in the fitted DXB.The difference between the two methods is most significant when the energy is less than 0.7 keV,which is also the main energy band of SWCX emission.In addition,the difference between the two methods is not related to the SWCX intensity and,to some extent,to solar wind conditions,because SWCX intensity typically va ries with the solar wind.In summary,both methods are robust and reliable,and should be considered based on the best available options.

Simulation study of the performance of the Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope

The Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope(VLAST)is a mission concept proposed to detect gamma-ray photons through both Compton scattering and electron–positron pair production mechanisms,thus enabling the detection of photons with energies ranging from MeV to TeV.This project aims to conduct a comprehensive survey of the gamma-ray sky from a low-Earth orbit using an anti-coincidence detector,a tracker detector that also serves as a low-energy calorimeter,and a high-energy imaging calorimeter.We developed a Monte Carlo simulation application of the detector using the GEANT4 toolkit to evaluate the instrument performance,including the effective area,angular resolution,and energy resolution,and explored specific optimizations of the detector configuration.Our simulation-based analysis indicates that the current design of the VLAST is physically feasible,with an acceptance above 10 m^(2)sr which is four times larger than that of the Fermi-LAT,an energy resolution better than 2%at 10 GeV,and an angular resolution better than 0.2◦at 10 GeV.The VLAST project promises to make significant contributions to the field of gamma-ray astronomy and enhance our understanding of the cosmos.

The Jiao Tong University Spectroscopic Telescope Project

The Jiao Tong University Spectroscopic Telescope(JUST)is a 4.4-meter f/6.0 segmented-mirror telescope dedicated to spectroscopic observations.The JUST primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal segments,each with a diameter of 1.1 m.JUST provides two Nasmyth platforms for placing science instruments.One Nasmyth focus fits a field of view of 10′and the other has an extended field of view of 1.2°with correction optics.A tertiary mirror is used to switch between the two Nasmyth foci.JUST will be installed at a site at Lenghu in Qinghai Province,China,and will conduct spectroscopic observations with three types of instruments to explore the dark universe,trace the dynamic universe,and search for exoplanets:(1)a multi-fiber(2000 fibers)medium-resolution spectrometer(R=4000-5000)to spectroscopically map galaxies and large-scale structure;(2)an integral field unit(IFU)array of 500 optical fibers and/or a long-slit spectrograph dedicated to fast follow-ups of transient sources for multi-messenger astronomy;(3)a high-resolution spectrometer(R~100000)designed to identify Jupiter analogs and Earth-like planets,with the capability to characterize the atmospheres of hot exoplanets.

Disorder effects in NbTiN superconducting resonators

Disordered superconducting materials like NbTiN possess a high kinetic inductance fraction and an adjustable critical temperature, making them a good choice for low-temperature detectors. Their energy gap(D), critical temperature(T_(c)),and quasiparticle density of states(QDOS) distribution, however, deviate from the classical BCS theory due to the disorder effects. The Usadel equation, which takes account of elastic scattering, non-elastic scattering, and electro–phonon coupling,can be applied to explain and describe these deviations. This paper presents numerical simulations of the disorder effects based on the Usadel equation to investigate their effects on the △, Tc, QDOS distribution, and complex conductivity of the NbTiN film. Furthermore, NbTiN superconducting resonators with coplanar waveguide(CPW) structures are fabricated and characterized at different temperatures to validate our numerical simulations. The pair-breaking parameter α and the critical temperature in the pure state T_(c)^(P) of our NbTiN film are determined from the experimental results and numerical simulations. This study has significant implications for the development of low-temperature detectors made of disordered superconducting materials.

VLBI with SKA:Possible Arrays and Astrometric Science

The next generation of very long baseline interferometry(VLBI)is stepping into the era of microarcsecond(μas)astronomy,and pushing astronomy,especially astrometry,to new heights.VLBI with the Square Kilometre Array(SKA),SKA-VLBI,will increase current sensitivity by an order of magnitude,and reach astrometric precision routinely below 10μas,even challenging 1μas.This advancement allows precise parallax and proper motion measurements of various celestial objects.Such improvements can be used to study objects(including isolated objects,and binary or multiple systems)in different stellar stages(such as star formation,main-sequence stars,asymptotic giant branch stars,pulsars,black holes,white dwarfs,etc.),unveil the structure and evolution of complex systems(such as the Milky Way),benchmark the international celestial reference frame,and reveal cosmic expansion.Furthermore,the theory of general relativity can also be tested with SKA-VLBI using precise measurements of light deflection under the gravitational fields of different solar system objects and the perihelion precession of solar system objects.

Terahertz high-sensitivity SIS mixer based on Nb–AlN–NbN hybrid superconducting tunnel junctions

The terahertz band,a unique segment of the electromagnetic spectrum,is crucial for observing the cold,dark universe and plays a pivotal role in cutting-edge scientific research,including the study of cosmic environments that support life and imaging black holes.High-sensitivity superconductor–insulator–superconductor(SIS)mixers are essential detectors for terahertz astronomical telescopes and interferometric arrays.Compared to the commonly used classical Nb/AlO_(x)/Nb superconducting tunnel junction,the Nb/AlN/NbN hybrid superconducting tunnel junction has a higher energy gap voltage and can achieve a higher critical current density.This makes it particularly promising for the development of ultra-wideband,high-sensitivity coherent detectors or mixers in various scientific research fields.In this paper,we present a superconducting SIS mixer based on Nb/AlN/NbN parallel-connected twin junctions(PCTJ),which has a bandwidth extending up to490 GHz–720 GHz.The best achieved double-sideband(DSB)noise temperature(sensitivity)is below three times the quantum noise level.

First Digit Distributions of Gamma-Ray Bursts

The occurrence of the first significant digits from real world sources is usually not equally distributed,but is consistent with a logarithmic distribution instead,known as Benford’s law.In this work,we perform a comprehensive investigation on the first digit distributions of the duration,fluence,and energy flux of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) for the first time.For a complete GRB sample detected by the Fermi satellite,we find that the first digits of the duration and fluence adhere to Benford’s law.However,the energy flux shows a significant departure from this law,which may be due to the fact that a considerable part of the energy flux measurements is restricted by lack of spectral information.Based on the conventional duration classification scheme,we also check if the durations and fluences of long and short GRBs (with duration T_(90)>2 s and T_(90)≤2 s,respectively) obey Benford’s law.We find that the fluences of both long and short GRBs still agree with the Benford distribution,but their durations do not follow Benford’s law.Our results hint that the long–short GRB classification scheme does not directly represent the intrinsic physical classification scheme.

Cosmic Ray-driven Bioenergetics for Life in Molecular Clouds

According to models such as panspermia or the Nebula-Relay hypothesis,the ancestors of life on Earth once lived in molecular clouds.Then what are the energy source and bioenergetics for such lifeforms?A new bioenergetic mechanism powered by cosmic ray ionization of hydrogen molecules is proposed and its relation with the origin of chemiosmosis is also discussed in this paper.Based on this mechanism,the Last Universal Common Ancestor may be a type of lifeform that utilizes hydrogen molecules as donors of electron transport chains.

HI in High Gas-phase Metallicity Dwarf Galaxy WISEA J230615.06+143927.9

We present resolved Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope H I observations of the high gas-phase metallicity dwarf galaxy WISEA J230615.06+143927.9(z = 0.005)(hereafter J2306) and investigate whether it could be a Tidal Dwarf Galaxy(TDG) candidate. TDGs are observed to have higher metallicities than normal dwarfs. J2306 has an unusual combination of a blue g-r color of 0.23 mag, irregular optical morphology and high-metallicity(12 +log(O/H) = 8.68 ± 0.14), making it an interesting galaxy to study in more detail. We find J2306 to be an H I rich galaxy with a large extended, unperturbed rotating H I disk. Using our H I data we estimated its dynamical mass and found the galaxy to be dark matter(DM) dominated within its H I radius. The quantity of DM, inferred from its dynamical mass, appears to rule out J2306 as an evolved TDG. A wide area environment search reveals J2306 to be isolated from any larger galaxies which could have been the source of its high gas metallicity. Additionally, the H I morphology and kinematics of the galaxy show no indication of a recent merger to explain the high-metallicity.Further detailed optical spectroscopic observations of J2306 might provide an answer to how a seemingly ordinary irregular dwarf galaxy achieved such a high level of metal enrichment.

Evolution of High-energy Electron Distribution in Pulsar Wind Nebulae

In this paper,we analyze the spectral energy distributions of 17 powerful(with a spin-down luminosity greater than10~(35)erg s~(-1))young(with an age less than 15,000 yr)pulsar wind nebulae(PWNe)using a simple timein-dependent one-zone emission model.Our aim is to investigate correlations between model parameters and the ages of the corresponding PWNe,thereby revealing the evolution of high-energy electron distributions within PWNe.Our findings are as follows:(1)The electron distributions in PWNe can be characterized by a double power-law with a super-exponential cutoff.(2)As PWNe evolve,the high-energy end of the electron distribution spectrum becomes harder with the index decreasing from approximately 3.5 to 2.5,while the low-energy end spectrum index remains constant near 1.5.(3)There is no apparent correlation between the break energy or cutoff energy and the age of PWNe.(4)The average magnetic field within PWNe decreases with age,leading to a positive correlation between the energy loss timescale of electrons at the break energy or the high-energy cutoff and the age of the PWN.(5)The total electron energy within PWNe remains constant near 2×10~(48)erg,while the total magnetic energy decreases with age.

Inelastic Scattering of Dark Matter with Heavy Cosmic Rays

We investigate the impact of inelastic collisions between dark matter(DM)and heavy cosmic ray(CR)nuclei on CR propagation.We approximate the fragmentation cross-sections for DM-CR collisions using collider-measured proton-nuclei scattering cross-sections,allowing us to assess how these collisions affect the spectra of CR boron and carbon.We derive new CR spectra from DM-CR collisions by incorporating their cross-sections into the source terms and solving the diffusion equation for the complete network of reactions involved in generating secondary species.In a specific example with a coupling strength of b_(χ)=0.1 and a DM mass of m_(χ)=0.1 GeV,considering a simplified scenario where DM interacts exclusively with oxygen,a notable modification in the boron-to-carbon spectrum due to the DM-CR interaction is observed.Particularly,the peak within the spectrum,spanning from 0.1 to 10 GeV,experiences an enhancement of approximately 1.5 times.However,in a more realistic scenario where DM particles interact with all CRs,this peak can be amplified to twice its original value.Utilizing the latest data from AMS-02 and DAMPE on the boron-to-carbon ratio,we estimate a 95%upper limit for the effective inelastic cross-section of DM-proton as a function of DM mass.Our findings reveal that at m_(χ)?2 MeV,the effective inelastic cross-section between DM and protons must be less than O(10^(-32))cm^(2).

A Catalog of ^(13)CO Clumps from the MWISP in l=10°–20°

In this study, we present a catalog of molecular clumps extracted from ^(13)CO(J=1-0) emission data of the Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting(MWISP) project. The data covers the inner Milky Way within the longitude range10°≤l≤20° and the latitude strip of |b|≤ 5°. 25. The workflow for the extraction of clumps, namely Facet-SS-3DClump, consists of two parts: the identification of clump candidates and their verification. First, Facet-SS-3DClump employs FacetClumps to identify clump candidates. Subsequently, high-confidence clumps are obtained by cross-matching with the clumps detected by other algorithms, such as dendrogram. Second, these high-confidence clumps are used as prior knowledge to train a semi-supervised deep clustering approach, SS-3D-Clump, which is applied to verify clump candidates detected by FacetClumps, providing confidence levels for the molecular clumps. Finally, the catalog comprising 18,757 molecular clumps was obtained using Facet-SS-3D-Clump, and the catalog is 90% complete above 37 K km s^(-1). We observe a significant deviation of the mean Galactic latitude for clumps within |b|≤ 2° from the midplane, with b=-0°.110. We found that 82.3% of the dust clumps correspond to ^(13)CO clumps by matching with Herschel infrared dust clumps. In the future, Facet-SS-3D-Clump will be applied to detect ^(13)CO clumps in the entire MWISP data.

Recent Progresses of the DAMPE Mission

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)is a space high-energy particle andγ-ray detector whose major scientific goals are the indirect detection of dark matter particles,the origin of cosmic rays and highenergyγ-ray astronomy.Since its successful launch in December 2015,the DAMPE has been operated smoothly in orbit for more than 8 years.The direct measurements of the boron-to-carbon and boron-to-oxygen flux ratios,and the proton+Helium spectrum up to 316 TeV have been obtained,revealing new spectral features with very high significances.The search results ofγ-ray spectral line and fractionally charged particles indicate a good potential of DAMPE for indirect dark matter detection and new physical discovery in space.The DAMPE measurements are expected to significantly advance our understanding of the fundamental problems in astroparticle physics.

Cosmology-Independent Photon Mass Limits from Localized Fast Radio Bursts by Using Artificial Neural Networks

A hypothetical photon mass m_(γ) can produce a frequency-dependent vacuum dispersion of light, which leads to an additional time delay between photons with different frequencies when they propagate through a fixed distance. The dispersion measure and redshift measurements of fast radio bursts(FRBs) have been widely used to constrain the rest mass of the photon. However, all current studies analyzed the effect of the frequency-dependent dispersion for massive photons in the standard ΛCDM cosmological context. In order to alleviate the circularity problem induced by the presumption of a specific cosmological model based on the fundamental postulate of the masslessness of photons, here we employ a new model-independent smoothing technique, artificial neural network(ANN), to reconstruct the Hubble parameter H(z) function from 34 cosmic-chronometer measurements.By combining observations of 32 well-localized FRBs and the H(z) function reconstructed by ANN, we obtain an upper limit of m_(γ) ≤ 3.5 × 10^(-51)kg, or equivalently m_(γ) ≤ 2.0 × 10^(-15)eV/c^(2)(m_(γ) ≤ 6.5 × 10^(-51)kg, or equivalently m_(γ) ≤ 3.6 × 10^(-15)eV/c_(2)) at the 1σ(2σ) confidence level. This is the first cosmology-independent photon mass limit derived from extragalactic sources.

Progress Report on ASO-S: 2022–2024

The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S)marked China's first comprehensive solar mission in space.Drawing upon the previous reports covering 2018-2020 and 2020-2022,we present here an update on the ASO-S made from 2022 to 2024.In August 2022,ASO-S completed its Phase D study and was successfully launched on October 9,2022.The commissioning phase was carried out and concluded within the first nine months following the launch.The data and associated analysis software have been opened to the community and the research on the early ASO-S data has been well developed.We anticipate also the achievements in data research pertaining to ASO-S in the near future.

Inverse Calculation and Regularization Process for the Solar Aspect System(SAS) of HXI Payload on ASO-S Spacecraft

For the ASO-S/HXI payload, the accuracy of the flare reconstruction is reliant on important factors such as the alignment of the dual grating and the precise measurement of observation orientation. To guarantee optimal functionality of the instrument throughout its life cycle, the Solar Aspect System (SAS) is imperative to ensure that measurements are accurate and reliable. This is achieved by capturing the target motion and utilizing a physical model-based inversion algorithm. However, the SAS optical system’s inversion model is a typical ill-posed inverse problem due to its optical parameters, which results in small target sampling errors triggering unacceptable shifts in the solution. To enhance inversion accuracy and make it more robust against observation errors, we suggest dividing the inversion operation into two stages based on the SAS spot motion model. First, the as-rigid-aspossible (ARAP) transformation algorithm calculates the relative rotations and an intermediate variable between the substrates. Second, we solve an inversion linear equation for the relative translation of the substrates, the offset of the optical axes, and the observation orientation. To address the ill-posed challenge, the Tikhonov method grounded on the discrepancy criterion and the maximum a posteriori (MAP) method founded on the Bayesian framework are utilized. The simulation results exhibit that the ARAP method achieves a solution with a rotational error of roughly±3 5 (1/2-quantile);both regularization techniques are successful in enhancing the stability of the solution, the variance of error in the MAP method is even smaller—it achieves a translational error of approximately±18μm (1/2-quantile) in comparison to the Tikhonov method’s error of around±24μm (1/2-quantile). Furthermore, the SAS practical application data indicates the method’s usability in this study. Lastly, this paper discusses the intrinsic interconnections between the regularization methods.

Accelerating Asteroidal Period and Pole Inversion from Multiple Lightcurves Using Parallel Differential Evolution and Cellinoid Shape Model

Determining asteroid properties provides valuable physical insights but inverting them from photometric lightcurves remains computationally intensive.This paper presents a new approach that combines a simplified Cellinoid shape model with the Parallel Differential Evolution(PDE)algorithm to accelerate inversion.The PDE algorithm is more efficient than the Differential Evolution algorithm,achieving an extraordinary speedup of 37.983 with 64 workers on multicore CPUs.The PDE algorithm accurately derives period and pole values from simulated data.The analysis of real asteroid lightcurves validates the method’s reliability:in comparison with results published elsewhere,the PDE algorithm accurately recovers the rotational periods and,given adequate viewing geometries,closely matches the pole orientations.The PDE approach converges to solutions within 20,000 iterations and under one hour,demonstrating its potential for large-scale data analysis.This work provides a promising new tool for unveiling asteroid physical properties by overcoming key computational bottlenecks.

Study on the Performance of the GRANDProto300 Particle Detector Array by Simulation

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection(GRAND)is a proposed large-scale observatory designed to detect cosmic rays,gamma-rays,and neutrinos with energies exceeding 100 Pe V.The GRANDProto300 experiment is proposed as the early stage of the GRAND project,consisting of a hybrid array of radio antennas and scintillator detectors.The latter,as a mature and traditional detector,is used to cross-check the nature of the candidate events selected from radio observations.In this study,we developed a simulation software called G4GRANDProto300,based on the Geant4 software package,to optimize the spacing of the scintillator detector array and to investigate its effective area.The analysis was conducted at various zenith angles under different detector spacings,including 300,500,600,700,and 900 m.Our results indicate that,for large zenith angles used to search for cosmic-ray in the GRAND project,the optimized effective area is with a detector spacing of 500 m.The G4GRANDProto300 software that we developed could be used to further optimize the layout of the particle detector array in future work.

Optical Transient Source AT2021lfa:A Possible“Dirty Fireball”

AT2021lfa,also known as ZTF21aayokph,was detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 2021 May 4,a 05:34:48 UTC.Follow-up observations were conducted using a range of ground-based optical telescopes,as wel as Swift/XRT and VLA instruments.AT2021lfa is classified as an“orphan afterglow”candidate due to its rapid flux decline and its reddened color(g-r=0.17±0.14 mag).For an optical transient source without promp gamma-ray detection,one key point is to determine its burst time.Here we measure the burst time through fitting the initial bump feature of AT2021lfa and obtain its burst time as 2021 May 3,at 22:09:50 UTC.Using afterglowpy,we model the multi-band afterglow of AT2021lfa and find that the standard model canno reproduce the late radio observations well.Considering that the microphysical parameters ε_(e),ε_(B)(the energy fraction given to electrons and magnetic field),andξN(the fraction of accelerated electrons)may vary with time we then model the afterglow of AT2021lfa taking into account the temporal evolution of the physical parameters ε_(e),ε^(B),and ξ_(N) and find in this case the multi-wavelength observations can be reproduced well.The initial Lorentz factor of AT2021lfa can be estimated from the peak time of the early afterglow,which yields a value of about 18 suggesting that AT2021lfa should be classified as a“dirty fireball.”From the upper limit for the prompt emission energy of AT2021lfa,we obtain that the radiation efficiency is less than 0.02%,which is much smaller than that of ordinary gamma-ray bursts(GRBs).It is also interesting that the fitted values of jet angle and viewing angle are very large,θ_(c)~0.66 rad,θ_(v)~0.53 rad,which may lead to the low Lorentz factor and radiation efficiency.When compared with GRB afterglow samples,it is evident that the onset bump timescale of AT2021lfa satisfies the empirical relationships observed in GRB samples.Additionally,the luminosity of AT2021lfa falls within the range of observations for GRB samples;however,approximately 1 day after the burst,its luminosity exceeds that of the majority of GRB samples.